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The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed activist Teesta Setalvad, accused of fabricating evidence in the 2002 Godhra riots cases, to travel to Amsterdam to attend the International Documentary Film Festival between November 14 and November 24.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan allowed Setalvad's plea seeking to travel abroad to attend the festival in her capacity as producer of the documentary film 'Cycle Mahesh'. Earlier, the apex court had on August 20 allowed Setalvad to travel to Malaysia for a conference and directed her passport to be returned to her. It had asked her to re-surrender her passport with the trial judge after her return and to furnish a solvent surety of Rs 10 lakh. The bench on Tuesday said the same conditions as the ones imposed in August would apply to Setalvad. The Gujarat government, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, did not object to Setalvad's plea. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Setalvad, said she is seeking permission to travel to Amsterdam and requested the release of her passport for processing her Schengen visa. Setalvad said she received an invitation for the Amsterdam event from the organisers of the International Documentary Film Festival in her capacity as producer of a documentary film 'Cycle Mahesh'. The film has been nominated for the award under the category of "Best First Feature". She is currently on bail in connection with a criminal case involving allegations of a conspiracy to malign the State of Gujarat and then Chief Minister Narendra Modi for their handling of the 2002 Gujarat riots. In 2023, the Supreme Court granted regular bail to the activist after she approached the apex court against Gujarat High Court order rejecting her regular bail and asking her to surrender. Setalvad was arrested by the Gujarat Police on June 25, 2022, on an FIR by the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) on alleged charges of conspiring to falsely implicate innocent people in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots. (ANI)
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